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Agriculture Cannot Feed the World at the Environment’s Expense

Agriculture Cannot Feed the World at the Environment’s Expense

December 11th, 2015

"World leaders are gathered in Paris to reach a global agreement on reducing humans’ influence on climate. As momentum grows around this critical debate, the vital role of agriculture must not be overlooked.

According to a recent World Bank report, agriculture will be the main driver of climate-generated poverty. Rising temperatures threaten harvests, generate higher food prices and trigger unstable global food supplies.

The result? 100 million additional people in poverty by 2030.

"We must transform this grim future into one of opportunity. A more resilient agricultural system is possible when we utilize climate-smart technologies and farmer-focused cropping practices.

Agriculture must mitigate its effect on climate change.

Mineral fertilizers will drive the productivity increases needed to feed 10 billion by 2050. But fertilizer production and use contribute to agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. Innovations to intensify food production cannot come at the expense of the environment.

One way we can solve future challenges is by learning from the past. For centuries, rice farmers in Japan and China formed mud into fist-sized balls filled with fertilizer or manure. The nutrient-packed balls were pushed into the soil between rice plants. Farmers wasted less fertilizer and experienced higher yields. International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) researchers used this technique to fine-tune urea deep placement (UDP), an environmentally friendly and income-boosting fertilizer application method."